Chime signal



Filed Oct. 16, 1956 J. MOEVOY 2,810,123

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l4 7' TOIEWEXQ Oct. 15, 1957 Filed Oct. 16, 1956 J. MCEVOY 2,810,123

CHIME SIGNAL 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 j/ 5 H I 20, 1M I 225 Z I M 29 i 1 "ii 13 I 30 z l Us s 23 24 nited States Patent CHIME SIGNAL Joseph McEvoy, Eatavia, Ohio, assignor to NuTone, Inc., Cincinnati, Ohio, a corporation of New York Application October 16, 1956, Serial No. 616,280

6 Claims. (Cl. 340--392) This invention relates to electrically operated chimes which are used extensively as door signals, and it is directed in particular to a chime signal in which four tone bars and their associated resonators are sounded in pairs by means of only two solenoid operated strikers to produce chorded chime signals.

The solenoid operated strikers which are employed are the double-acting type. That is, each striker upon being energized is driven electrically in a first direction to strike a tone bar located at one side of the solenoid. In

moving toward the first tone bar the striker compresses a coil spring which immediately, after the first tone bar has been struck and the solenoid has been deenergized, drives the striker in the opposite direction to strike a second tone bar located at the other side of the solenoid. A single-acting solenoid striker, on the other hand, is one arranged to move in one direction only to strike a single tone bar. It has been common practice to em ploy a double-acting striker and a single-acting striker in conjunction with two tone bars to produce two distinct chime signals, one being a two-note signal sounded by the double-acting striker, and the other being a one note signal sounded by the single-acting striker. In an installation in a home, a chime of this type usually is wired so that pushing the front door button sounds the two notes, whereas pushing the rear door button sounds the single note. Examples of such chimes are disclosed in Alexander Reissue Patent No. 21,370 and Rittenhouse No. 2,265,816.

Tone bars by themselves do not produce satisfactory signals uponbeing struck. Hence, resonators, usually in the form of tubes, are used to amplify the signals and to obtain pleasing musical notes. These tubes are comparatively large; but, despite this, assembling two of them and their associated tone bars and strikers into a compact unit has created no particular problem in the past. And, in the past, they have been assembled in various ways without the housings enclosing the assemblies being overly large. The usual practice has been to mount the two strikers parallel to one another on a panel, mount the tone bars at the sides of the strikers and then mount the resonator tubes to the outer sides of the tone bars.

In the chime signal of the present invention four resonators and four tone bars are required to produce the chorded signals, and the primary objective is to assemble these eight elements along with their strikers into a compact unit which may be enclosed within a comparatively small, attractive housing which, it will be seen, is not substantially larger than the housings of the two note chime signals provided in the past. As in the past two note chime signal devices, the present chime is adapted to produce two distinctive tone signals. One of these, which may be used as a front door signal consists of four harmonic notes which are sounded in pairs, each pair constituting a chord. The other signal, which may be used as a rear door signal consists of two single notes which are sounded one immediately after the other. The latter type of signal has been used as the front door signal ice in the two note chimes of the past to which reference has been made. Thus, from the viewpoint of the sounds produced, the invention is concerned primarily with the front door, chorded signal, which signal is not only unique, but exceptionally melodious for solenoid operated chimes.

Other objectives of the invention will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description of the drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a front elevational view of a decorative housing which may be employed to enclose the chime signal.

Figure 2 is a front elevational view of the chime signal with the housing removed.

Figure 3 is an enlarged fragmentary cross sectional view illustrating details of construction of one of the double acting solenoid operated strikers which are employed in the signal.

Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the preferred way of wiring the chime so as to produce chorded signals.

Figure 5 illustrates an alternate method of wiring the chime so that it produces two distinctive two note signals.v

Figure 2 of the drawings illustrates the relationship of the various parts of the chime including four tone bars designated respectively 1, 2, 3 and 4, four resonating chambers designated respectively 5, 6, 7 and 8 and two double acting solenoid operated strikers designated generally 9 and 10. The tone bars and resonating chambers are associated as follows: Tone bar 1 with chamber 5; tone bar 2 with chamber 6; tone bar 3 with chamber 7 and tone bar 4 with chamber 8. The tone bars are selected so that bars 1 and 2 when sounded together constitute a two note chord and bars 3 and 4 when sounded together constitute a We note chord. In addition, the tone bars are selected so that the two chords produced harmonize with one another, because, being sounded one immediately after the other, the paired sets of bars continue to vibrate over a period in which all four notes are audible. In the instance shown, bar 1, when struck, sounds the highest note and the bars are graded in tone down from this bar to bar 4. Various sets of notes may be used in the chime by choosing bars of, appropriate lengths, following simple rules of harmonics to achieve pleasing chords.

In the preferred embodiment, for a front door signal, tone bars 1 and 2 are sounded simultaneously followed immediately by the sounding of bars 3 and 4 together. For a back door signal only one of the strikers is energized, for example striker 9, so that bar 1 is sounded followed immediately by the sounding of bar 3, these two notes blending with one another during the period that they continue to be audible.

More specifically, the elements of the chime signal are mounted upon a back panel 11 which may be made of sheet metal following conventional practices with the four edges being turned back to provide a flanged margin. In the present instance, the four corners of the back panel are cut at the angle shown in order to facilitate the placement and removal of a decorative housing such as the one designated 12. The housing may be any decorative enclosure which is open at the rear to fit over panel 11. In addition, the front of the housing may be. covered with cloth, or it may have a series of openings, or it may be configurated in other ways to permit the ready passage of sound waves. The housing also may be fastened to the back panel in various ways. In the present case, one or more small holes (not shown) are provided in the top flange of back panel 11, these holes being designed to receive one or more small brackets which may depend from the rear edge of the top of the housing.

It will be obvious that other means may be employed tosecure thehousing in place, if desired.

The four resonating chambers, 5 through 8, are pr vided within two elongated cylindrical tubes designated 13 and 14 respectively which may be made of metal. Chambers 6 and 7 are in tube 13, whereas chambers and 8 are in tube 14. Chamber 7 is defined by a flanged end cap 15 which is secured in the upper end of tube 13 to close it. The lower end of chamber 7 is defined by a similar flanged cap 16 which is disposed within tube 13, This cap also defines the upper end of chamber 6. Tube 13 is enclosed at its lower end by another flanged cap 17. The caps may be identical, each comprising a sheet metal disk having a continuous flange turned over at its edge so as to fit snugly within the inside diameter of the tube. The two chambers within the other tube 14 are defined by three disks or caps similar to those indicated at 15, 16 and 17 with the position of the inner disk being indicated by the dot-dash lines 18., Following conventional practices, the inner disks are positioned so that each chamber is of a size to amplify the vibration of the tone bar with which it is associated. The tubes may be secured to the back panel in various ways. For example, by metal screws, bolts or by welding if this is desired. The disks themselves may be spot welded in place within the tube.

The four tone bars are mounted upon the sides of the resonator tubes adjacent to apertures within the tubes which open into the resonating chambers. In the present instance, each bar is held in place by means of a pair of metal screws 19 which pass through spaced holes in the tone bar, threading into Tinerman nuts inside of the tube as shown at 20. Eachmetal screw is locked in place by means such as a nut 21 which is engaged upon it and which is tightened against the outer surface of the tube. Alternatively the nut may be formed as an integral part of the screw. The tone bars are insulated from the metal screws 19 my means of rubber grommets 22. The mounting of the four tone bars upon the tubes may follow conventional practices insofar as the spacing relative to the openings into the chambers is concerned, and the open ings may be shaped following conventional practices to provide the most efiicient amplication of sound produced upon the striking of the tone bars.

Unlike conventional chime constructions, each striker extends through a resonator tube. More specifically, striker 9, which is illustrated in detail in Figure 3, comprises a mounting bracket 23 which is secured to back panel 11, a solenoid coil 24, a tube 25 formed of brass or other nonmagnetic material which extends through the coil, diametrically through resonating chamber 7, and to the throat of the opening adjacent to tone bar 3. The tube 25 passes through an opening 26 in the wall of chamber 7 at a point diametrically opposite the sound opening. A rubber grommet 27 seated within opening 26 is provided with a circular opening to seat the tube 25 and to close the chamber at this side. The striker or solenoid plunger moves sharply toward the right within tube 25 when the coil 24 is energized and a stem of non-magnetic material at this end of the plunger strikes tone bar 1. The right end of the tube has a cap 28 upon it, which cap has a central opening 29 in it which is of a size to permit the stem to project from the tube. The stem of the striker is smaller than the major portion thereof and it has a light coil spring 30 surrounding it which seats against cap 29 at the one end and against a shoulder 31 at its opposite end. The initial electrical impulse of the coil causes the striker to move to the right as shown by the dotdash lines 32 to strike tone bar 1." During such movement the coil spring is compressed and upon the sounding of tone bar 1 the spring then returnsthe striker toward the left so that a stem at its opposite end strikes tone bar 3. Except for the way in which it is mounted and the way in which it extends through resonating chamber 7, the striker may be of conventional construction as long as it is arranged to strike first a tone bar disposed opposite its one end and then immediately to rebound to strike a tone bar disposed opposite to its other end.

The other striker designated is mounted within resonating chamber 8 in the same way that striker 9 is mounted within chamber 7. It is, however, turned around so that upon being energized the striker moves first toward the left to sound tone bar 2 and then to rebound toward the right to sound tone bar 4.

Thus, in substance, the chime assembly consists of two resonator tubes, each one of which has two resonating chambers within it one above the other, and each of which has two tone bars mounted upon it, one above the other at the opposite sides thereof. Furthermore, each tube has a double acting solenoid operated striker extending diametrically through it. The two resonator tubes are mounted parallel with one another and at a distance from one another so that when the solenoid operated strikers four note chorded signal by adding additional units to the assembly shown in the drawings. The two strikers it will be noted are disposed within the larger ones of the resonator chambers of the two tubes. This is preferred be cause it minimizes interference with the sound waves within the chambers. It will be appreciated, however, that both strikers may be mounted in the same tube so that upon the initial impulse they both move in the same direction to sound tone bars on the opposite tube. The arrangement of strikers shown is also preferred because it permits overlapping of the ends of the tone bars at the opposite sides of each tube thereby reducing the overall height of the assembly.

Preferably, the two solenoids are wired as shown in Figure 4. In this case both solenoids are energized simultaneously when a front door button is pushed and only one of them is energized when a rear door button is pushed. As disclosed, three terminals are provided on the back panel. These terminals are designated 33, 34 and 35 and they are mounted upon a plate 36 which may be made of 'hard fiber or other insulating material. The three terminalsare wired in to the circuit as follows: A front door button or switch is shown at 37 and a rear door button or switch is shown at 38. Preferably a sixteen volt transformer 39 is used in the circuit. A wire 40 connects one contact of front door button 37 to terminal 33, which is the left one of the three shown. This terminal, is also connected to solenoid 10 by a wire 41. The other side of switch 37 is connected to one of the contacts of the rear door button by a wire 42. This latter wire is also connected to the transformer as at 43. The other contact of the rear door button 38 is connected to terminal 35 by means of a wire 44. This terminal, in turn, is connected to solenoid 9 by a wire 45. Terminal 34 is connected to solenoid 9 by a wire 46 and the second wire of solenoid 10, designated 47, is connected to terminal 35. Thus, when the front door button is pressed to close the circuit, the circuit is completed from the transformer, through the front door button and terminal 33, through wire 41 to solenoid 10, through wire 47, terminal 35 and wire 45 to solenoid 9 and then through wire 46, terminal 34 and a wire 48 back to the transformer. Both solenoids are actuated simultaneously. On the other hand, when the rear door button is pressed to close the switch at this point, the circuit completed is from transformer 39 through wires 43, 42 and button 38 to terminal 35 through wire 44. From this point the circuit is through the two wires 45 and 46 and the coil of solenoid 9 to terminal 34 and then back to the transformer through wire 48. This energizes solenoid 9 only so that a two note signal is sounded.

If desired, the two solenoids may be energized independently of one another so as to provide two distinct two note signals instead of the chorded type signal provided by the preferred circuit of Figure 4. A circuit of this type is shown in Figure 5. It is substantially identical to the other circuit in every respect except that wire 44 instead of going from the rear door button to terminal 35 goes to terminal 34, and the wire 48 instead of going to the middle terminal 34 goes to terminal 35. In other words, the terminals are reversed for wires 44 and 48. Under these circumstances pushing the front door button completes the circuit to solenoid only, whereas pushing the rear door button completes the circuit only to solenoid 9.

Having described my invention, I claim:

1. A chime signal capable of producing chorded signals comprising a mounting panel, a pair of resonator tubes mounted in spaced parallel relation on said panel, means inside of each tube dividing each tube into two resonating chambers which are disposed one above the other, each resonator chamber having a sound opening in a side thereof, four tone bars, each tone bar mounted upon the side of a resonator chamber adjacent to the sound opening thereof, a pair of double-acting solenoid operated strikers, each striker mounted within the wall of a resonator chamber of one of said tubes and extending diametrically through said tube with one of the ends of said striker disposed to sound the tone bar of the resonator chamber with which the striker is associated and with the opposite end of said striker disposed to sound a tone bar associated with the other resonator tube.

2. A chime signal capable of producing chorded signals comprising a mounting panel, a pair of resonator tubes mounted in spaced parallel relation on said panel, means dividing the inside of each tube into two resonating chambers one of which is larger than the other, the larger chambers of the respective tubes being in opposite ends thereof, each resonator chamber having a sound opening in a side thereof, four tone bars, each tone bar mounted upon the side of a resonator tube adjacent to an opening into a resonator chamber, a pair of double acting solenoid operated strikers, each striker mounted within the larger resonator chamber of a tube and extending diametrically therethrough with one of the ends of said striker being disposed to sound the tone bar of the resonator chamber with which the striker is associated and with the opposite end of the striker being adapted to sound a tone bar associated with the other resonator tube.

3. A chime signal for producing chorded signals comprising a pair of resonator tubes mounted in spaced parallel relation with respect to one another, means in each tube defining two resonator chambers therein, a pair of double acting solenoid operated strikers, said strikers being mounted parallel with one another and each extending diametrically through a resonator chamber at opposite ends of the respective resonator tubes, both of said strikers adapted upon the enengization thereof to move initially toward the resonator tube opposite to the one with which it is associated and then to rebound and to move in the direction opposite to the initial direction, four tone bars, each tone bar being associated with a resonating chamber, and the respective tone bars disposed so that two of them are sounded simultaneously in the initial movement of said strikers and two of them are sounded immediately thereafter upon the rebound of said striker.

4. A chime signal for producing chorded signals, a pair of resonator tubes mounted in spaced parallel relation with respect to one another, means in each tube defining two resonator chambers therein one of which is larger than the other, the respective larger chambers being at opposite ends of the tubes, a pair of double acting solenoid operated strikers, said strikers extending diametrically through the respective larger resonator chambers, both of said strikers adapted upon the energization of the solenoid thereof to move first toward the resonator tube opposite to the one with which it is associated and then to rebound and to move in a direction opposite to the first direction, four tone bars, each tone bar being associated with a resonating chamber, and the respective tone bars disposed so that two of them are sounded simultaneously in the first movement of said strikers and the other two are sounded immediately thereafter upon the rebound of said striker.

5. A chime signal adapted to sound four notes in chorded pairs, said chime signal comprising four resonator chambers which are arranged in sets of two, the resonator chambers of each set being disposed one above the other and the two sets being in spaced parallel relationship, each chamber having a sound opening in a side thereof, the openings of the chambers in each set being at opposite sides, four tone bars, each tone bar being associated with a chamber adjacent to the sound opening thereof, a pair of double-acting solenoid operated strikers, each striker being mounted in a resonator chamber and extending diametrically through it with one of the ends of said striker being adapted to sound the tone bar associated with the chamber in which the striker is mounted and with the opposite ends of said striker being adapted to sound a tone bar associated with a resonator chamber of the other set of resonator chambers.

6. A chime signal adapted to sound notes in chorded pairs, said chime signal comprisingresonator chambers which are arranged in sets of two, the resonator chambers of each set being disposed one above the other and the two sets being disposed in spaced parallel relationship, each chamber having a sound opening in a side thereof, a tone bar associated with each chamber adjacent to the sound opening therein, a pair of double-acting solenoid operated strikers, each striker extending through a resonator chamber with one of the ends of said striker being adjacent the sound opening and being adapted to sound the tone bar associated with the chamber through which the striker extends and with the opposite end of said striker being adapted to sound a tone bar associated with a resonator chamber of the other set of resonator chambers.

No references cited' 

